Off north carolina. This was part of a seminar the. Without further ado, let me introduce our first speake he has received many awards including the National Trust for Historic Preservations president s award for Historic Preservation and many, many others. His talk today is the ship that saved the nation, the monitors recovery and conservation. Please welcome mr. Quarstein. [ applause ] thank you. Well, you know, on march 8th, 1862 it was a terrible day for the union. In fact, it turned the tide, it appeared in favor of the confederacy when the css virginia emerged from the Elizabeth River and sunk two major union warships, the cumberland and the congress. The union navy was in disarray. People were in the white house looking out the curtains, down the potomac, fearing that this super weapon, as they would have called the merrimack, as southerners called the virginia, would be there soon and the war would finally end in a confederate victory. But all was to change as if magic, because that evening a ship that was called like no other ship before, in fact, one person said a sailors eyes have never looked upon such a vessel. If i believed in idolry id take it out and worship it. The turret sits on an armored deck, which sits on a hull. It is actually a submarine life because everything is below the water line. One of my favorite stories is when the crew first gets on, two people desert immediately because its so different. And they have all these new devices. John ericsson, the inventor, will actually have other 100 patentable items of which 33 are patented and he actually gives those patents to the u. S. Navy. One of the most unique patents on board happened to be to be a prussian commode. You live under the water, there is no doubt. In fact, one of the members of the monitors crew, acting assistant pay master william keilar will actually be laying in his bunk. There are these little deck lights that bring light into the cabins. Hes reading. All of a sudden it went dark. He looked up and he saw fish over his light. You can well imagine there was the strangest ship ever seen. And somehow it left new york on march 6th, 1862, encountering two storms on its way south. It almost sank twice. And somehow she came into Hampton Roads just as the battle is concluding. She is to do her duty. Their Commander Lieutenant john worden basically as he looks across the Chesapeake Bay towards Hampton Roads, he sees all these ships rushing out. He sees flashes of cannon fire in the distance. And hell merely say they rushed out of Hampton Roads like a flock of chickens chased by a fox. The monitor only went 7 knots. In fact, samuel green said he had no sleep for 24 hours trying to keep the ship afloat. So they will go into Hampton Roads. They pull up next to the esteemed crew frigate 42 guns. The minnesota, sister ship of the original merrimack is run aground on the hampton bar and you need to position yourself next to it. I want you all just to think that here comes the monitor, 171 feet in length, 33 foot beam, aint much to it. Its 9 feet off the waters edge. He pulls next to the minnesota, about 45 feet off the waters edge. Its dark. The congress is burning and finally will explode. Its terrible for the union. So worden stands up on the turret, hails the minnesota. The commander of the minnesota is a man known who looks down as what are you . Of course, worden says, im the monitor, im here to protect you. He say i dont know what youre going to do, but if that thing comes back, i will fight my ship and i will sink before surrender. I have to tell you that worden calmly says, i will protect you. I just want to tell you about the monitor. Weve got about 3 feet extra head room in this sketch because everything was compressed within the monitor. The hull, one of the problems is theres an overhang over the hull which well learn about a little later. So the virginia came out of here on march 8th, had to come up like this because of the shoals. Comes here, rams and sinks the cumberland, proving the power of iron over wood. Comes over here, sinks the congress. Actually, she will burn. The minnesota had time to cut the corner of what is known as hampton bar. She is so badly stuck aground. So at night, the virginia came back to a buoy here at sewells point. They had breakfast with two boiled eggs and two jiggers of whiskey to start their day. The monitor will all of a sudden appear. John taylor wooden says no one has ever seen anything like that. In retort, the acting commander will actually say, ericssons battery, look out for some hot fight. So basically for the next see, thats the sinking of the cumberland, very dramatic. There you have it. Its like a pigmy against a giant. The virginias 262 feet in length, she has a draft of 22 feet. The monitor, notice 18inch free board, bad news. The pilot house is out in front. And then theres the turret. The big issue is they have bad communications between the pilot house and the turret because they have this speaking tube. When the monitor almost sank coming down from new york, water had gotten in the speaking tube, so it didnt work. Inside the turret you have these white marks below it to tell you with the captains orders, fire 5 points to starboard. If youre in a spinning turret, you know where that is. If youre using black powder, are those white marks covered up . Can you see out of the turret . Well, you have to look over the tops of the guns and you see a dark object, you fire. Problem is, one of those dark objects you could see would be the pilot house. Its called monitor roulette, okay. In fact, out of 41 shots they only hit the virginia 20 times. That kind of tells you bad fire control. Virginia has the same problems. They dont have the proper ammunition on board. Actually, one of the ships inventors is john mercer brook, and brook will actually have invented not only the virginia with its submerged ends, but also the brook gun, the finest rifle cannon of the civil war. And hes also invented the brook bolt, which is an armor piercing shot. If you ever look at the turret of the monitor, you can see where brook bolt hit the turret at the battle. They dont have it. In fact, during the battle he sees this other officer, a gun commander known as John Randolph eggleston. Hes just standing behind his gun, every so often snapping his finger. What is the meaning of this, sir . Why arent you firing your gun . Eggleston says, well, ill tell you, i find i can do as much damage to that ship by snapping my fingers than firing my guns and prouder is precious, sir. Oh my gosh. Well, this battle will continue for 4 1 2 hours. Im not here to talk about the battle, but what im here to talk about is that at the very end, now these ships almost touch each other. The confederates concoct a plan devised by John Taylor Wood, grandson of president Zachary Taylor that ive got a bunch of volunteers. Were going to jump on the deck of the monitor. Were going to take off our peacoats, cover the pilot house, stuff them down the smokestacks and we got a bunch of chloroform and were going to throw it in the turret and take her by boarding. Well, they just dont do that, because its kind of a crazy plan. Nevertheless, at the very end of the battle, the virginia is starting to rise higher and higher because of all the use of coal and gun powder. Worden decides, im going to run at the fantail of the virginia, because you can see the propeller churning. And im going to ram it and disable the ship. So he builds up speed, heads right to the fantail. But then theres a steering malfunction. The monitor veers off and as a result of that, the virginia, actually John Taylor Wood will fire a 7inch brook shell that hits the pilot house, throws part of it off and blinds worden. And basically the battle was over. Its a drawn battle. The monitor had stopped the virginia from destroying any more wooden ships. Likewise, the virginia had been successful enough so that she blocked the james river during the beginning of the peninsula campaign, which will actually cause an officer to get a dreaded disease in 1862 known as ram fever or merrimack on the brain. In other words, he closes the james river, he refuses to run path the batteries at yorktown. And mcclellen is forced to lay siege. After the battle these people, these are the officers of the monitor. These people are heros, right . In fact william keilar who kinds of looks like john lennon there, he will write that you walked into an eating establishment at ft. Monroe, you didnt have to pay a thing. In fact daniel toffee had to take a message to washington. Daniel toffee was the captains clerk. He went into the Willard Hotel and he wasfeted with the most lavish meal. These guys were heros because they were on the little ship that saved the nation and that made them heros. Now, the big thing is that the monitor will serve during the peninsula campaign. I want to tell you the monitor was not a nice ship to serve on. Number one, shes painted black. Until august. Theyll paint it light gray then. But in july shes painted black. Shes in the james river. The temperature in the engine room is up over 130. In the galley, which is right next to the boilers, its 140 degrees. Mosquitos and flies had gotten into the bilge. In fact, one of them said the mosquitos were as big as hummingbirds. So the monitor anyway, after serving in support of the peninsula campaign, will come down to Hampton Roads. Shes then ordered up to the Washington Navy yard. Now, during this time she goes through a series of officers, including samuel green for one day. For three days its thomas selfridge. Then William Jeffers takes command. He will be a hated commander. In fact, the crew actually write worden, whos recovering from his wound in washington, dear sir, nothings been happy on the monitor since you left, can you please come back . Signed affectionately the monitor boys. Well, the big thing is the monitor, you can see how they modified the pilot house. This was done by alvin someti v. They have a larger telescoping smokestack and blower stacks. See, the problem with the monitor is shes got to bring in air to feed her engines and entire ship. So in heavy seas, shes in serious trouble. She comes down after being refitted at the Washington Navy ya yard. Her new commander is john pine bankhead. He is cousin to John Bankhead mcgruder. Hes foreign in ft. Johnson, south carolina. However, his father is Brigadier General bankhead, a very good friend of winfield scott. Nevertheless, he had replaced this other captain whose name was thomas holdrup stevens. Id be remiss if i dent tell you what a drunk this guy was. In fact, i think my favorite story about him is theyre supposed to move up the appomattox river. And the alligator, the union submarine which is commanded by thomas o. Selfridge jr. One person said he want command a ship with a c because every ship hes on that sinks has a c, the cumberland. The bottom line is that so they will come down to Hampton Roads. They have this great christmas dinn dinner. Its amazing. In fact Jacob Nicholas will write his father, i am becoming a hog, the food is so good. We had chicken stew, we had oysters, turkey, potatoes, sweet and irish. Oh my gosh. And to end it all, we had oranges and apples and nuts and the best fruitcake i ever had. Ive never had good fruitcake. Someone else eating with them, george gear said the cook ruined the meal. It was terrible. Paid. Anyway, on that day, they get orders to go where . Down south. Right . And theyre supposed to let toward bofert, north carolina, because the federal navy at that time was considering an operation against wilmington, north carolina. And so the monitor will be towed south by this ship. This ship is actually command this is the rhode island 236 feet in length, iron hulled, of course, a paddler. And so she is commanded by a man known as Steven Decatur trenchard and trenchard is the most famous rescue at sea individual in the world at the time. He had rescued several crews, but the most important one was in 1856 when during a terrible gale off cape ann, hes in the Coastal Survey ship, the u. S. S. Vixen and a british bark runs aground on rocks about 200 yards from shore. What does that mean . Theyre all going to die. He brings the vixen alongside, saves every crew member and its so impressive that Queen Victoria is going to give trenchard a gold presentation sword. But wait, trenchard cant have it because of the emoluments clause. Sometimes we paid attention to that, and the big thing is that he had to have a special act of congress to have him receive the sword. So, as the monitor, as they tow down, they get hit by a terrible storm, 30foot seas, 50knot winds, rain squalls, snow squalls, sleet squalls. It is terrible condition. Finally, John Bankhead john kind bankhead, has to raise the red lantern of distress and immediately trenchard organized two ships is to come over to the monitor, two long boats and rescue the crew. The big problem is is that rhode island cant komd alongside the monitor. The fear was a wave could pick it up and drop it on the monitor and could be thrown into the side of the rhode island. So she would sink. 53 men onboard the monitor. One man in the turrett gets so upset with the screaming of the ships cat that he grabs the cat, throws her in the barrel and puts it on afterwards but he could still hear the screaming of the cat. Oh, my gosh. You can well imagine seass ceding. They had this ladder. The ladder got washed away. Theyre coming down on basically ropes and, of course, you can well imagine you get on the deck and got to come across to jump into this long boat and have to jump from probably here to oars link. Theres several recorded that people that miss, in fact, daniel moore, it was said that the last thing we heard of him was a gurgle. William keeler is on the deck. A wave picks him up. Throws him to the ocean. Then another wave picks him up and throws him back on the deck. Then he jumps to the long boat. He misses. However, someone picks him up and grabs him. And brings him into the boat. Gunner James Fenwick will be washed off the bow when hes trying to cut the has line. Napoleon stoddard will be able to cut the line so the monitor is the action thats happening is the monitor is being picked up and slapped back down. The hull with the overhang is starting to come apart. Many crew members thinks this ship is going to fall apart before she actually will sink. So, anyway, they have two long boats. They come over. They pick up a bunch of crew members. William keeler said he arrived with not a stitch of clothes on and freezing, you see, you imagine just the conditions. Dr. Grenville weeks will actually in one vote that was already cracked get next to the island. It bumps against the rhode island. He dislocates his arm. Crushes three finger. Hes a righthanded surgeon. Someone said, oh my gosh, your arm, its terrible. He goes, oh, no, an arm is worth a life. The last rowboat will try to come back under the command of rodney brown. However, hes guided toward the red light and all of a sudden a swell brings him up. As he comes down the light is gone and the monitor is no more. This is about 12 30. Youve got about 30 people onboard the rhode island all saying, its 12 15, its 12 30, its 1 00. I tend to go with the ships log of the rhode island which says 12 30. So the monitor is no more. 16 people were lost. 47 people were saved. And it shocks the nation to see that the monitor is no more. Now, when the monitor sank, she sank by her hull, and she turns like that. The turrett falls off. One of the troubles is the turrett sits in a brass ring. It was a spindleof rated turett and its faulty and jacked it up and put oakam under it to try to stop leaks. Well, the toureturturrett falls comes down, hits the bottom and turns over upsidedown. And then the hull comes down and comes down as you can see over part of the turrett. And thats how she is going to be discovered 1974 by dr. Newton and dr. Newton is with the duke Maritime Research institute. They actually pick it up on sonar and they then will actually be able to put these composite pictures. Now, once you find the monitor, thats all fine and dandy. What are you going to do about it . Well, basically, lets see, 26, over 50 years later, all right, they start to make decisions to bring up objects. The first object is going to be this, and this is the famous red lantern, right, that was hung from the stanchions around the turret. They had no way of climbing up to the top over the canvas cover to put it up there. So those pictures that show it there are wrong. And so oddly the last thing seen is the first thing found. So you have to realize that basically, the Mariners Museum was selected to be the depository for all monitor objects. So for the first 10, 15 years, of the project, oh, isnt this great, its down there and we get these objects up, which are pretty fabulous, and all of a sudden, there is the idea we actually can bring parts of the monitor up. And were of course, the owner of the vessel is noaa, and they orchestrated a partnership, you know, they selected the Mariners Museum to be the repository. Then they actually go to the u. S. Navy and we get the cooperation of what is known as dive team 6. And these guys recover now, the monitor is in 235 feet of water. So this means you cant just put on scuba dive and go down there. It is very serious compression diving. And so at first, its more objects coming up, then basically the idea is that we cut away this whole section of the monitor. Now, by cutting away this section of the monitor, means we can bring up all this arm armorplate. We can bring up the propeller. Right . We can bring up the entire engine room. This is the oldest complete 19th century steam engine maritime steam engine in the world. So, you know, we bring up the engine. We bring up the armorplate. Then the idea is lets bring up the turret. Now, the turret has a bunch of problems in bringing her up. Problem number one is that she has she weighs 120 tons. Thats her l